Beat Of A Drum
by Falling Ash
Summary: Tifa decides that it's time for Cloud to get out there and date, and she knows just the man for the job.
1. One Day We'll Think Things Through

**A/N**: NEW STORY! I know, that's a big deal considering that it took me 5 months to update the one story I had, and then suddenly I have 3? I know, I know, I'm trying not to overdue it. But that shows I feel guilty, right? D:

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing.

* * *

**Cloud**

Taking a sigh of relief, I practically threw my last patient folder in the basket. It'd been a long day, and I made a mental note to try and ask for long weekends in advance instead of trying to cram an extra eight hours after an equally long shift beforehand. That required the ability to think ahead, however, and that was something that I just did _not_ possess the ability to do. Eight hours… Eight extra hours of torture. Two concussions, three food poisonings, and twelve broken limbs. _Twelve_. What on Earth was going on in the world that caused twelve broken bones in a eight hour period? Shaking my head at the thought, I moved towards the locker rooms.

"Hey hot stuff, finally off?"

I nodded, a small smile pulling itself across my exhausted face. Demyx had been with me through the laborious years of medical school, evil doctors during internships, and now we were suffering through the constant stream of idiots at Radiant Garden Memorial Hospital together. Glancing over at the blond nurse, I couldn't help but shake my head at his constant energy. I knew for a fact that he'd already been working for two hours when I'd arrived at my first shift yesterday afternoon, yet he seemed as energetic as ever as he, too, began to strip out of his obnoxiously green scrubs.

"I don't know how you do it, man." I muttered, pulling my shirt off and ignoring the groan of my muscles. "You've been here for, what? Almost twenty-four hours? And yet you're as chipper as ever…" He was inhuman, that was the only answer. "How much caffeine do you intake on a daily basis?"

Laughing as he slammed his locker, Demyx just patted my head as he made his way towards the door. "Too much, man, too much."

Shaking my head as he left with those words, I plopped myself down on the cold bench, my shaking knees unable to hold my weight for much longer without dropping me to the ground. I'd sworn off all forms of caffeine almost two years ago, and even now, my sleeping schedule had yet to completely straighten out. Then again, that could be more from my working schedule than from the horrendous amounts of that I'd consumed in the early years – and later, I begrudgingly admitted – of my life.

I grabbed my t-shirt out of the bottom of my locker, straining my back as I refused to un-plant my ass from the seat it'd been placed on.

"Quite a view." A voice practically growled from the doorway. I grimaced, snatching up my shirt and quickly putting it on.

"Sephiroth." I winced. Of all the people to come in while I was changing… I avoided looking in his direction as I pulled on my shoes on once again, grabbing my things, and practically running towards the door. Shit, not fast enough. A hand tightly gripped my upper arms, squeezing hard enough to bruise.

"Leaving so fast?" He'd leaned forward, and his lips dragged themselves along my earlobe. Jerking away in disgust, I attempted to wrench my arm from his tightening grip. "_Yes_. I have plans, and they don't involve _you_."

Finally succeeding in freeing my arm, I stomped towards the door. The _perfect_ fucking ending to a _perfect_ fucking shift. That asshole… Olette gave me a look of sympathy as I passed the front desk, clearly having seen that sadistic bastard follow me into the locker room.

"I don't know how you dated him for so long." She murmured, flashing me an apologetic look at her lack of filter before turning back to the system computer. Waving a hand dismissively, I walked out the door, the swooshing of the automatic panels closing making the end of a long day final. Honestly? I didn't know how I'd done it either.

* * *

**About four hours later**

Banging… drums? No, that wasn't right. Drums didn't sound so… furious. "Cloud!" Drums also didn't shriek my name at that high of a frequency. I rolled out of bed, groaning as my head slammed into the table placed haphazardly next to my mattress. Who needed a bed frame when then only thing you used the bed for was to sleep? Not me, that was for sure.

More banging ensued on the other side of my apartment door and I shuffled quickly towards it. "Tifa! I can't afford to replace the door again, so just hold your knickers and stop twisting them!" I wrenched the door open, glaring at the busty woman on the other side. "Now, how can I assist you at…" I glanced at the clock. "Eleven o'clock at night?" She pushed me aside, and I finally realize the attire she was wearing. Tight pants, revealing shirt… Oh shit. "Oh shit!" She was going to kill me. "I'm so sorry! I completely overslept, didn't I?" I wondered if she was forgoing all forms of speech and planning to glare at me for the rest of the night. "I'm so sorry…"

"Cloud Thomas Strife," Lecturing tone… I was done for. "I sat at the bar waiting for you for almost two hours! How could you forget our bar night?" I scratched my head sheepishly. "I'm sorry." I was. "I worked a double shift last night and I forgot to set my alarm." She shook her head, placing her small hands on my broad shoulders. Suddenly, her face split into a grin, her eyebrows lowering slightly and giving her a devious look. This wasn't going to be good for me. "That's okay. Make it up to me?"

"Do I have a choice?" I muttered, knowing I didn't. "What do you want?"

She threw off her shoes, plopping down on the couch like she'd done many times before. "I have to go to this thing with my grandparents tomorrow." I raised an eyebrow. "I know, I know. I'm almost 24 and my old-folks are still dragging me to things. Whatever. The point is, I need someone to come with me and save me from boredom." I dropped my chin to my chest, my body conveying a message of defeat. "Fine, only so you don't rip off my balls and then make me eat them in a fit of artful revenge."

She squealed and I briefly wondered what exactly I'd gotten myself into.

* * *

**Leon**

"Don't forget your buttons!"

The old man grinned at me as I rolled down my passenger window, glancing at the drum in the back seat of my car and nodding a greeting. "Performer?" No, I keep random Native American instruments in the back of my car and drive up to the performer entrance for no reason. "Yeah. I'm a drummer." Obviously. The man's leathered face split into another grin, more wrinkles appearing on the tanned flesh. "Good! Here's your button, _don't forget it_. You can go ahead and drive through." I nodded, rolling up the window and driving forward, throwing the button somewhere in the back seat.

The park wasn't too crowded yet and I was immediately thankful. Every year that I'd been to this festival the parking had been nothing short of _hell_. Old men were scary when dressed in full powwow gear, and there was _no way_ I was going to mess with that. Whether I believed in the stuff or not, they certainly did, and that was enough for me to shudder at the thought of curses.

No, I was usually just better off parking near the lake.

Switching gears and trying not the wince as my car engine groaned, I parked in the back of the forest and _away_ from all the mothers and grandmothers who always pestered me about joining their daughters in a "soulful union." Yeah, that wasn't happening. Especially since I was _gay_, which I couldn't just flat out use as an excuse because then they'd try and set me up with their _sons_ instead.

Damn them and their open, warrior-for-a-lover minds.

* * *

**A couple hours later.**

I wiped my brow, setting the last drum near the edge of the dancing circle. Leave it to the chief to guilt me into helping _all_ the drummers with their equipment. I figured it was probably impossible to say no to that man, even if you really wanted to. It was just something about his authoritative aura that made even the toughest man want to get down on bended knee and basically kiss his feet.

"Dancers to your positions, the show will be starting in 10 minutes. I repeat, the show will be starting in _10 minutes_." Groaning, I ran back to the RV that I'd parked and basically jumped into the outfit assigned for our drumming group. Some fair warning would have been nice… Or help. Yeah, help would have been nice too. Running back, I grabbed my drumstick and waited for the chanting to begin.

* * *

**Cloud**

This was… weird. That was really the only word I could come up with for this. I mean who _went_ to things like this, let alone _dragged someone else_. It must have been in Yuffie's blood or something. Definitely.

Despite the whining she'd done the night before, the female that stood next to me was _not_ Tifa, but rather her sister, Yuffie, and she was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, her top definitely not containing as much as it should as the drumming started. Drumming and… chanting? The dancers moved around what looked like a donut that had been dug out of the sand, each group that was announced over the loudspeaker – how they managed to set one up in the middle of the forest was beyond me – danced a different dance that just seemed to get more and more strange as they went on.

"Yuffie," I hissed, trying to lean in close so she could hear me over the noise and still avoiding smashing a part of my skull against hers, "What exactly did your sister drag me to?"

"It's a powwow!" She announced, earning stares from some of the older people around us. I suddenly got the distinct impression of a library – where people told you to be quiet because they were busy enjoying things that only they could understand. Because this was something that I certainly did _not_.

"I got that, but why exactly am _I_ standing _here_? In the front, of all places… Don't you think I kind of stick out like a sore thumb?" Hell, I was the complete opposite of Native American – I looked like a damn Welshman compared to these people.

"Because," She responded, her incessant bouncing never stopping, her voice practically straining with the fact that she was currently yelling in my ear. That woman was good at drawing attention to herself – and inadvertently, me. "I wanted to show off my hot, gay friend!"

Okay, note to self, kill Yuffie... and then maybe Tifa.

* * *

**Leon**

I rested the drumstick onto the hide of the drum, rotating my arm in hopes that it would loosen the aching muscles. I really needed stop doing this shit, because between work and this? My arms were going to realize that it wasn't worth it and run away in the middle of the night.

"Squally-boy!" Speaking of aches and pains… I had a feeling that the headache I was about to receive would make me forget the deep throbbing in my triceps.

"Yuffie," I muttered, sighing before standing up and turning around, "Was that you that decided to interrupted the elder dance earlier? Where on Earth is your sister and handler?"

"Oh, she went to flirt with the speaker guy like usual. I wanted you to meet my friend!" She thrust forward the guy I'd briefly noticed earlier, and once again I was struck by the crystal, blue eyes and couldn't help but chuckle at the annoyed look that had taken home on his face. "Cloudy-boy, meet Squally-boy."

"Why must you cartoonize my name?" He muttered, wrenching his arm out of the small, hyper girl's hand, "I'm _Cloud_," he thrust out his hand, raising an eyebrow when I hesitated to accept it and allowing it to drop to his side again. "Okay, then."

"I'm Leon," I replied, crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow in return. "It's nice to meet you."

The blond rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as well and walking past me towards the food table, whispering as he walked past. "Nice for whom, exactly?"

* * *

**Cloud**

Okay, talk about a class-A asshole. He could have at least pretended he was nice for a couple of seconds so we could leave on good terms, then he could have gone away and be rude somewhere else. Would it have killed him to at least shake my hand? Apparently. Well, now he would be lucky if _I_ didn't kill him.

As I made my way down the food line, a face – and bust - I recognized plopped an annoyingly large amount of potato salad on my otherwise empty paper pate. "You know I hate potato salad, Tif."

"I know, but it's good for you. Maybe it'll dissolve that scowl on your face," she replied, "I think I'm starting to see wrinkles there, Cloudy-boy."

I growled, "Don't call me that."

Tifa just chuckled, more than used to my temper and patting my hand with her single free one. "Yuffie driving you up a wall?"

"Are you kidding me?" I mumbled, running hand through my blond hair and wincing when I felt the spikes bouncing back almost immediately, "She not so much introduced me as shoved me into the face of some guy with the personality of a rock. A very assholish rock, I might add."

"Ahh, you met Leon, then."

"So you know the stone-man?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and narrowing my eyes when she glanced at me sheepishly. A throat cleared from beside me, and I realized that I'd been holding up the line for some time now, and if Yuffie's loud voice hadn't drawn attention to me before, they certainly realized I existed now. Tifa sighed, setting down her serving spoon and motioning to follow her. "Come on, I'll explain this to you."

I followed her through the many trailers, ending at a bench near the lake and was yanked down onto the splintered wood. "Okay, so, the introducing thing?" She questioned, looking at me with the embarrassed glance again and spiking my suspicion, "Yeah, that was my idea."

"_What_?"

She held up her hands in surrender, "I'm sorry! I just hate to see you so upset and I know that, despite what you keep telling me, you hate being alone. You may try and pretend that you're okay, but I know for a fact that you really did care for Sephiroth, and it was difficult to let him go." I opened my mouth to argue, but she held up her finger, clearly expecting it. Damn her for knowing me so well. "Not that the asshat didn't deserve it, he totally did for what he did to you, but I want you to be _happy_, Cloud."

"I _am_ happy." I muttered, but sighed in resignation. The light from the fading sun bounced on the water of the lake and lit up the surrounding flora, creating an almost picturesque scene around us. "Okay, okay." I'd give in to her silly whims if it would make her happy. I don't know how she knew that there was, in fact, an aching in my chest when I went home after a shift at the hospital – something that only came from realizing that I'd be making dinner for one and using only my own body heat to stay warm at night. "But from now on, some warning, okay?"

"You won't regret it!" She beamed, wrapping her arms around me, and I couldn't help but lay my head on her skinny shoulders, something that I'd been doing since we were in middle school.

"No," I muttered, "I have a distinct feeling that I will."

* * *

Until next time!


	2. Blondes Just Want To Have Fun

**A/N:** New chapter! I finished this a couple of days ago, but kind of forgot to post it. Whoops. Here you go!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own.

* * *

**Leon**

The small bit of stretching that I'd managed to get in earlier that day had done nothing to improve the ache of my muscles, and having to carry the large drum back to my camper wasn't exactly high on my list of wants. The air had finally released the heat that it'd been so desperate to hold onto, and the sunset had begun to cast a faint glow over the lake and surrounding land.

Including the girl sitting alone on the bench.

"Tifa?" She turned around, a large grin spreading across her face as she recognized mine.

"Squall! Wow, look at you." Patting the seat next to her, she took the drum out of my hands as though it weighed nothing, and set it down on the ground in front of her, "It's been too long."

Laughing, I lifted my arms above my head and stretched some more, grateful for the reprieve. "Maybe not long enough," I responded, dodging out of the way when she went to smack me across the head.

I'd known Tifa for almost my whole life, having met her on the reservation when we'd been children learning the myths and legends of our ancestors. She'd always been one to turn heads, and I was sure that her 'out there' personality certainly hadn't helped. Neither did the size of her bust, now that I thought about it.

"Well, how goes the whole 'out of the closet dating' thing?"

I raised an eyebrow, glancing at her skeptically. "Well, it's difficult to do _any_ dating at all considering the fact that everyone seems to be forcing people into my face." She had enough decency to look slightly abashed. "I don't do much dating. One night stands are my current favorite thing."

"Silly boy," she cooed, brushing the hair out of my face and continue to run her fingers through it, "One night stands are only for horny men who have no idea where they're going in life." She paused in both her words and her petting momentarily before smiling slightly, the embarrassment that wasn't apparent within the smile becoming so in her words, "I _am_ sorry for not giving you a fair warning, though. I won't apologize for introducing you to Cloud – Lord knows he needs this just as badly as you do – but I will apologize for not giving you a warning."

If I knew anything about Tifa, which I did, that was about as good of an apology as I was going to get. So, I nodded and allowed myself to give in to her sisterly coddling. Not that I would ever admit that to anyone, of course. "That poor boy," I said, chuckling, "You could have at least brought him to a place where he didn't stand out so badly."

I felt her shrug, "Eh, he tries so hard to blend in and be invisible, I just wanted to put him in some spotlight for once."

"Forget put, you forcibly shoved him there."

"Well, what I lack in subtlety, I make up for in love."

I rolled my eyes, hiding the smile that stretched across my face.

* * *

**Cloud – Several Days Later**

Pacing the sidewalk outside of the restaurant, I checked the watch on my left wrist and sighed. It was bad enough that I'd agreed to allow Tifa _any_ sort of control on my love life, but then, to add insult to injury, to set me up with someone who clearly couldn't even tell time? God.

"Are you Cloud?" The blond walked up to the front of the restaurant, stopping my pacing and instead forcing a look of confusion to cross my face. "I'm Zell, you're…" He swallowed noticeably, "Date."

"Right. Yes, I'm Cloud. It's nice to meet you."

"Same."

It was nice of him to at least pretend like me meant it, but I could tell from the sweat on his brow and the frequent looks at the people around us that he didn't. I wasn't even sure that he wanted to be here in the first place, and wondered what exactly Tifa had promised to get this poor boy just to come out with me.

This date was making me feel more and more pathetic by the minute.

We made our way inside, and one of the waitresses took us to the table that Tifa had reserved. It was private, but not so much that we were completely alone. After half a bottle of wine and awkward conversations that ended before they'd even really began, Zell and I lapsed into silence, staring at the couples surround us as though we were desperately trying to integrate ourselves into their dates and out of ours. Well, maybe not him, but I certainly was.

I noticed Zell turn towards me out of the corner of my eye and I reciprocated the gesture, watching him survey my face. "Do you work at the hospital?" He asked.

"Um, yes?" God, it would be just my luck if this guy turned out to be a stalker.

"I knew I recognized you!" He suddenly perked up, eyes twinkling with excitement, "I work on the surgical staff."

Oh. "Oh." How on Earth had Tifa managed that? "I hope this won't make things awkward at work."

The excitement that had seem to jolt through my date's body quickly faded, and Zell nodded, grabbing his fork and poking at the food that had long been cold. But just as quickly as he'd picked up his fork, he threw it down. "Can I be straight with you?"

"Well, that's kind of an awkward question."

Chuckling, Zell flashed me a quick smile, "Right, unfortunate phrasing. Can I be _honest_ with you?"

I rolled my eyes. "I knew what you meant, Zell." I responded, "Go ahead."

"Right. Right. Okay," he scooted forward in his seat, "I'm not gay."

"Fantastic."

"I'm sorry," he responded, giving me a sheepish grin, "But you have to understand that I can't refuse Tifa when she asks me things."

I leaned forward in my own seat, resting my chin on my hand and trying not to show my complete and utter disbelief. This was just my luck, wasn't it? "How do you even _know_ Tifa?"

"Oh! We went to college together, we had a couple of classes together and kept in contact. Well," He paused, deliberating his choice of words, "Maybe not in contact, necessarily. More like, she came to the hospital to bring you lunch one day and we ran into each other."

"So you like her?" I didn't know why I'd asked such an obvious question, considering the fact that Zell had gotten this dreamy look on his face the moment that my busty, dark-haired best friend had been mentioned.

"Not necessarily," I raised an eyebrow, "Okay, yes. Quite a lot. Unfortunately she came up to me and asked me how I felt about dating a man and I froze and then she asked and it was already too late," he dropped his face in his hands, "I'm sorry."

Chuckling, I patted his head, feeling sorry for the poor boy. He clearly had no idea what exactly he'd done. "Not as sorry as you will be. You realize that you basically told her that you were gay and would never be able to date her?"

"Oh shit."

"Oh shit, indeed."

"I'm doomed." He groaned, throwing up his arms. "This sucks."

Signaling to the waiter for the check, I pushed my plate to the end of the table, taking a large gulp of the wine and setting my glass at the end as well. "Look," There was no point in saying that, since I clearly had his undivided attention, "I'll put in a good word, okay? No guarantees, but I'll tell her that you were just confused by the question." The waiter finally came with the check, and I gave him a grateful smile, "Thanks." I turned back to Zell, patting his hand before slipping my card – the one that was about to take a huge hit – into the little black folder. "Supper is still on me."

Nodding gratefully, Zell excused himself and made his way to the toilet, leaving me at the table cradling my own head. Maybe allowing Tifa to choose my dates was more than a bad idea. It was a _horrible_ idea. And with her current batting average? I was doomed. Maybe it was high time to look into adopting a cat. Or several.

* * *

Now I'm off to watch The Doctor, until next time, my darlings!


End file.
